This news was relayed by Muzzlewatch this morning. The Jewish Telegraphic Agency reported that:
Two Republican congressmen introduced legislation that would deny the Carter Center federal dollars.
U.S. Reps. Joe Knollenberg (R-Mich.) and Bill Shuster (R-Pa.) introduced the Coordinated American Response to Extreme Radicals Act, or CARTER Act, last week in the wake of former President Jimmy Carter’s recent outreach to Hamas.
“America must speak with one voice against our terrorist enemies,” Knollenberg said in a statement. “It sends a fundamentally troubling message when an American dignitary is engaged in dialogue with terrorists. My legislation will make sure that taxpayer dollars are not being used to support discussions or negotiations with terrorist groups.”
Only the simple minded, deceived, or dishonest do not know that this line of thinking has its roots in official Israeli hasbara (propaganda) intended to characterize Israel as the victim of terrorism, in spite of its continuing military occupation and colonization of Palestinian lands in the West Bank.
Hamas, however, is not a terrorist organization. The PLO in its early days was. As Jimmy Carter correctly informed a few nights ago on the Charlie Rose Show, Hamas became a terrorist organization only after it won the Palestinian elections. Furthermore, if you have to label Hamas’ resistance to military occupation terrorism, then you must also see Israel’s military occupation as a terrorist project. Indeed, looking at the death tolls since 2000, depending on the year, the Israelis have killed five to thirteen times more Palestinian civilians including children who count for 20% of those killed, and began those killings first after Ariel Sharon instigated the second Intifada.
The “terrorist” labeling of Palestinians, of course, is merely intended to cover up the ongoing military occupation, colonialism, ethnic cleansing, and further killing and maiming of innocent Palestinian civilians and resisters of occupation. Truth is that, according to international law, a military occupied people have the full right to resist that occupation.
The documentary, Peace, Propaganda, & The Promised Land (Part I and Part II) has been telling this story for the past two years (Click to see).
The Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) praised the legislation against Carter. Since ZOA is probably the most leading right wing Zionist or Likudnik (meaning, no state for the Palestinians) organization in the US, only its sympathizers would agree with their praise.
But the most disturbing aspect of this proposed legislation is that it is just a symptom of what is wrong with American foreign policy in the Middle East: it merely follows the dictates of official Israeli government propaganda, which, as stated, is solely intended to justify its continuing military occupation and colonization of the West Bank, to essentially blame the occupation of the Palestinians on the Palestinians themselves. Pretty slick.
But Americans, if not some of their politicians, are slowly waking up. This legislation against one of America’s greatest humanitarians is going nowhere.